


Ethics 218

by dontwatchmechange



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Some jason/janet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-25 11:39:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19744996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontwatchmechange/pseuds/dontwatchmechange
Summary: Now that she's a junior, Eleanor's got college figured out. There can't be anything in "Ethics 218: What We Owe To Each Other" that throws her for a loop.Except maybe a certain sexy giraffe.





	1. Syllabus

Eleanor’s junior year of college was going swimmingly so far. She’d gotten a Jamba Juice for breakfast and thrown the mostly-empty cup at the Environmentalists booth set up outside. She’d bumped into freshmen and gotten to say, “excuse you.” Most importantly, she’d gotten the coveted Slacker’s Seat in her first two classes. Third-to-last row, edge seat, same side as the podium if there was one, otherwise far right. The professor’s blind spot. It was mathematically perfect for getting them not to call on you.

Last up for the day was Ethics 218: What We Owe To Each Other. Eleanor figured she’d throw up halfway through the first class from how cheesy everything was, but she had to take an ethics class to graduate, and she supposed she could do worse than a 200-level.

She entered the room, and to her horror, a tall brunette in a floral gown had taken the third-to-last edge seat on the far right.

Eleanor forced a smile. “Heyyyy.” 

The girl looked up from her three-ring binder, in which she was either reviewing the syllabus (gross) or doodling (even worse).

“I hate to ask this,” said Eleanor sweetly, “but I’ve got this… knee injury, and I’ve got to be closest to the door so I can get out of the building first after class. Is there any way I could have that seat?”

Eleanor shifted her weight to really sell the knee thing.

“Yes, of course,” said the girl, in a shockingly proper British accent. “I’ll just scoot one over.”

The girl picked up her things, folded down her desk, and moved a full chair to the left, at which she immediately set up the desk. “Is that better, dear?”

Dear? Ugh. She’d have to deal with this princess all semester. “Perfect.”

Eleanor sat down.

“I’m Tahani,” said the girl, extending a hand.

Eleanor raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement. “Eleanor.”

Tahani dropped her hand, visibly disappointed. “Pleasure.”

“Hello,” said the professor as he entered the room, “and welcome to Ethics. I’m Professor Chidi Anagonye."

Ana-who?

"Please call me Chidi.”

"Thank god," mumbled Eleanor. Tahani looked over for a second, but hadn't quite heard.

"I'd just like to go around the room quickly and have everyone say their name, major, year, and a little fun fact about themselves."

Eleanor was about to groan in disgust, but Tahani interrupted by leaning close. "Oh, goody, I love these games."

Of course she did.

"Can I go first?" she asked loudly, standing up before she got a response. "Hello, I'm Tahani al-Jamil. I'm a sophomore psychology major. My fun fact is that I've just gotten back from a mission trip in South Sudan where I helped a village get access to vaccinations and cable TV."

"That's wonderful," said Chidi, as Eleanor rolled her eyes, though it was only for her own benefit; Tahani's butt obscured the rest of the class from view. If there was one thing Eleanor couldn't stand, it was people who thought they were better than her.

Eleanor could hear Tahani beaming. "Isn't it? My friend Oprah put the project together."

The obvious question rose on Chidi's lips. He was curious, but not curious enough to actually ask. He gestured to Eleanor when Tahani sat down. "Next?"

Eleanor declined to stand. "Eleanor. Junior. Polisci. Fun fact, uhhhh… I can chug vodka like it's beer."

No one here knew she was twenty. It was fine. The looks she was getting were fine. Especially from Tahani.

"What are you doing tonight?" asked a dudebro in a backwards baseball cap in front of her. Eleanor gagged.

Chidi gave the bro an expectant glare.

"Oh, I'm Jason?" He said it like a question. Maybe he wasn't sure anymore. "Senior? Undeclared?"

Eleanor was pretty sure you had to declare by junior year, but she wasn't going to pick a fight.

"I'm captain of the dance team," he said proudly. "After Pillboi dropped out to become a full-time street artist, there was no better man for the job."

Eleanor took the opportunity to pop in an earbud so she could listen to Carly Rae Jepsen rather than the rest of these boring-ass introductions. Who cared about Jennifer or Julie or whoever went next, that kid was obviously a freshman and didn't know shit about anything. The only one who stood out from the pack was an old man, much older than the professor, sitting on the opposite side of the room. Eleanor took the bud out, because this had to be good.

"I'm Michael." He spoke with the cadence you expected from a ninety-year-old getting out of his chair. "I'm part-time. I'm an architect, but I'm supposed to finish my degree before they move me to management."

"Oh, that's so sweet," said Tahani, quietly enough she could pretend she didn't want everyone in the room to hear but loudly enough that they did.

"Okay, class, get out your syllabi, we're gonna do a little review today."

Eleanor found hers easily, as the only other things in her backpack were the other two syllabi for the day. 

Tahani, however, had no such luck. "Drat," she said under her breath.

Drat?

"It appears I left the syllabus on my printer back in my dorm. Oh, dear." She looked up at Eleanor. "Say, would you mind sharing?"

Eleanor raised her hand. "Chidi? Do you have any extra copies?"

He shook his head. "I don't waste paper."

Eleanor sighed and slid closer to Tahani, laying the syllabus between them. She didn't like being this close to people, especially not arrogant, narcissistic, sexy giraffes who couldn't even remember their own-

Woah.

Eleanor decided she was just going to ignore that thought. It had never happened.

Tahani's perfectly manicured hand reached to turn the page.

No lesbian had nails like that.

Eleanor blinked it off. It didn't matter what her nails were like, she wasn't going to fall for this girl.

As Chidi laid out the syllabus, Tahani drummed her fingers on her legs. One-two-three-four. One-two-three-four. Nothing annoyed Eleanor like people tapping, but she couldn't look away.

At the end of class, Tahani asked Eleanor, "Do you need any help getting home?" She threw her things into her bag haphazardly, trying to keep up with Eleanor's rush. "You don't have crutches or anything, you should really be walking with some kind of support."

"No, I'm fine, really," said Eleanor, standing with just enough balance to convince Tahani she was injured, but independent.

"Do let me walk you back. Where do you live?"

"Oh, not far."

"All the more reason!"

Eleanor bit her lip. "Alright, fine."


	2. Socrates

Luckily, the class had been on the first floor, because Eleanor wasn’t sure she could fake stairs right now.

“Where are you from, Eleanor?”

She could lie. She was already lying. There was no good reason to tell the truth. “Phoenix,” she said anyway.

Tahani crinkled her nose. “I haven’t spent much time in America, isn’t that quite far from here?”

‘Here’ was Florida State, so that was a fair statement. “I had to get out. See the world beyond your hometown, you know?” Then Eleanor said something deeply out of character, even though she knew she’d regret it. “What about you?”

“I’m originally from Pakistan, but raised in Britain, and I’ve been all over the place. That happens when your sister is… well, who she is.”

Tahani had been so eager to name-drop before, but when it came to her sister, she didn’t want to. Al-Jamil, thought Eleanor. Where had she heard that before?

She gasped. “Not Kamilah.”

Tahani pulled at her bangs. “That’s the one.”

Kamilah al-Jamil was larger than life. Even if you knew nothing about pop music, you’d heard ‘Heart Ablaze’ or ‘Change Your Mind About Me’ on the radio at least twice in the last twenty-four hours. You’d seen her face on talk shows and even the evening news for her humanitarian work. She was inescapable, and Eleanor had Kamilah’s entire first album downloaded to her phone.

“Must be hard,” said Eleanor. “Living in your older sister’s shadow.”

“I’m older,” said Tahani bitterly.

“She’s that young and so accomplished?” asked Eleanor in awe, then shifted her tone on seeing Tahani’s face. “I”m sorry. I mean. That sucks.”

“It does,” said Tahani sadly. “But it’s fine! She’s at Oxford now, so I don’t have to see her much.”

Oxford. Yikes. Florida State had been Eleanor’s reach school.

“I’m glad I don’t have any siblings,” said Eleanor. Or parents, she thought. “Family just drags you down sometimes. That’s why you gotta surround yourself with decent people.”

They’d arrived at Eleanor’s front door, and the ungodly shrieking from inside made Tahani jump.

“Like my roommates,” Eleanor sighed.

“It was good to meet you, Eleanor. I look forward to seeing you again.”

Tahani extended the hand for a handshake again. This time Eleanor took it, not at all self-conscious about her hands being small and unsophisticated compared to Tahani, who definitely used a moisturizer multiple times a day.

“You, too,” she said with a sweet smile. “Thanks for the walk home.”

She opened and closed the door quickly, and, standing properly on both legs, leaned against the door in relief.

\--

Eleanor could hardly focus in her other classes. Not that she needed to. Sylly week was still in full swing, and no professor could possibly say anything meaningful until at least Friday.

“You seem to be walking better,” said Tahani. To Eleanor’s surprise, it wasn’t spiteful or skeptical. It seemed to be a genuine acknowledgement of her recovery. Of course, nothing was genuine. No one in the history of the world had ever been genuine, and a socialite like Tahani knew that.

“Yeah,” said Eleanor, walking almost normally to her preferred seat. “It’s way better than Monday. I think I just twisted it wrong or something.”

“Bets on how Eleanor hurt her knee,” said Jason loudly. “I bet she kneeled down to feed a duck, and the duck bit her, and she tried to run away before standing up.”

“Have you done that?” asked Eleanor, suppressing a laugh. That story could only come from personal experience.

“I was out of dance practice for a week.”

“I bet she was running,” said the freshman girl next to Jason, whose name Eleanor completely missed last class (Jessica?), in a surprisingly robotic voice. “Most minor knee injuries are incurred while running.”

“I bet she was in a fistfight and got her footing wrong,” said Michael, the old architect. This was, by far, not the worst thing he could have said, but it was out-of-place enough to warrant everyone glaring at him.

“I bet she hurt it when she fell from heaven,” said Tahani.

“Ha, ha,” said Eleanor, trying not to blush. She wished straight girls weren’t always so flirty. Then she’d have at least a remote idea of whether Tahani was hitting on her or not.

Everyone sat up a little straighter when Professor Chidi walked in. He wasn’t very old, but something about him commanded respect.

“Socrates,” he began without an introduction, “left us a jumbled legacy. Since he never wrote any of his teachings down, and nobody else bothered to write them down, we today have a hard time knowing what he meant.”

Eleanor did not look over at Tahani.

“I mean, it’s hard enough to know what someone means when they say something to your face.”

Eleanor continued to not look over at Tahani.

“But with careful study,” said Chidi, “there’s a lot we can learn from mixed messages. There’s always bits and pieces of the truth.”

Eleanor looked over at Tahani. She was taking careful notes in the kind of colorful gel pen everyone used in middle school in Phoenix. She had a few other colors tucked inside the rings of her binder. Her handwriting was loopy and elegant and she did not for a second look back at Eleanor.

Socrates, it turned out, was a pretty metal dude. He just wanted to figure out what was right and what was wrong without using source material, and Eleanor could get behind that. She was never particularly religious herself, so it wasn’t like she got her ethics handed to her from on high. She had to figure it out as she went.

“Can’t believe Socrates got killed for being the first-ever reasonable fucking person,” said Eleanor as class ended.

“Technically, he killed himself,” said Jason. “Look, you don’t have to drink poison if you don’t want to. Nobody can make you do that.”

“They did make him do that,” said Chidi.

“Damn,” said Jason.

“I’ve drank poison before,” said (Judy?)

Jason grinned. “What the hell, Janet? How’d you manage that?”

“Oh, I’ve almost died a lot, really,” said Janet (it was definitely Janet!). “I almost die a couple times a year. In my high school, I was voted Most Likely To Join The 27 Club, but, you know, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, so I’m probably super strong now.”

“But I thought you were, like, super smart,” said Jason.

“Not mutually exclusive.”

“Excuse me,” said Tahani, cutting past Eleanor to leave.

“Bye, Tahani,” she said politely, then quietly beat herself up for saying something as uptight as ‘goodbye.’


	3. Plato

“Oh, Eleanor!” 

God, she’d just walked into class and there was already an interrogation. Tahani beckoned her over to her usual seat. Eleanor sat. “What?”

“I try to get someone’s phone number in each of my classes,” said Tahani. “In case something happens and I miss class.”

“What am I gonna do about it?”

“Tell me what I missed, of course! Don’t worry, I’ll do the same for you.”

Fair and equal exchanges weren’t Eleanor’s forte. She liked to know she was getting more bang for her buck. Tahani, however, seemed proper enough to never miss class. She was probably the type to come even if she had a fever and a contagious cough, which, incidentally, was exactly the sort of thing that would cause Eleanor to make up an emergency and leave class. Hell, Eleanor would skip class over a headache. She’d definitely get more here than she’d give.

“Sure,” she said, handing her phone to Tahani and taking hers from her.

Tahani’s first contact alphabetically was J.J. Abrams. Curiosity got the better of Eleanor and she scrolled through. Every name was big. Oprah was in there. It was comical, the number of celebrities she seemingly knew. What bothered Eleanor was that literally every name was big. There was no Mom or Dad, no casual friends, and nobody from other classes, unless she had calculus with Ringo Starr.

“Thanks,” said Tahani as they traded phones back.

“Yeah,” said Eleanor.

“That’s not a bad idea,” said Janet. “Hey, Jason?”

Jason had been previously engaged in a conversation with Michael, but both of them were more than willing to drop each other like hot potatoes. “What’s up, Janet?”

“Um. I was wondering if I could have your phone number.”

Jason smiled. “Sure, dawg.”

“Alright. Dawg.” It was way less natural coming from Janet. What a nerd.

Eleanor wanted to express out loud how those two would be boning by Monday, but she didn’t see anyone who’d appreciate the comment.

“Plato!” said Chidi with more enthusiasm than such a subject deserved as he entered the classroom right on time. “I’m not talking about that molding clay, alright? You’ve all heard of Plato. Platonic solids, Platonic relationships, it’s all this guy.”

Eleanor felt like walking out now and calling Tahani later, because she had a world of experience with platonic relationships. They were going to be the death of her.

“Now, a lot of what Plato thought about was the nature of reality. The problem of universals. Do things exist just because we know them as concepts? Something being red. Being someone’s daughter. Being shaped like a circle. These are all abstractions, categories, but Plato says they’re still real.”

Eleanor often had a hard time knowing what was real. Usually, this was because she got very drunk and messed up her memory. Once in a while, a very realistic dream put her off, and she went about her life like it actually happened until someone corrected her. Right now, she wasn’t sure what was up with Tahani. Were things platonic? Platonically real even if they had no physical form? Or Platonically un-sexy like she’d come to expect?

Tahani was taking notes as usual. Dialogue, she’d written. A conversation between two people. Dialectic. A conversation between two people holding opposite sides, both searching for the truth.

Eleanor had been told she was two-faced before. She could handle an internal dialectic.

In this corner, the announcer voice in her head shouted, we have Platonic Relationship, weighing in at Very Likely. In the opposite corner we have Probably A Misapplication Of The Idea Of Platonic Realism For The Sake Of Pretending Tahani Likes Me, weighing in at Needs A Better Name.

“Eleanor, are you alright?” asked Tahani quietly. “You haven’t been taking notes and your eyes are going back and forth like you’re watching a ping-pong match.”

“Yeah, fine,” she replied, copying down the board.

Platonic realism: the idea that abstract things exist.

Abstract: not concrete.

Concrete: there exists a physical reference point.

Physical reference point, thought Eleanor, the phone number she gave me.

Platonically.

This was torture.

Tahani tapped on the table as Chidi wrote something else on the board. Eleanor wondered if the same thoughts could be going through her head, or if it was straight moral philosophy.

It was probably something about having tea with the Queen tomorrow afternoon. Or the band Queen. Or-

"Aristotle," said Chidi, finishing the name on the board. "Next class we'll be getting more into him. Class dismissed."

"Fun fact about Aristotle," said Janet. "He was wrong about everything."

"He was wrong about everything scientific, Janet, he's still got some valid philosophy," sighed Chidi as he left.

"So I'll see you on Monday, then?" asked Tahani brightly.

Eleanor took a breath. "Maybe before that?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You probably get kind of lonely around here, huh? Not many celebrities on campus. Betting you pay for a single, too, so that's another level of isolation." Okay, so narrowing in on someone's insecurities wasn't the most foolproof way to make people like you, but Eleanor had seen great success with it in the past.

"I am not lonely," said Tahani indignantly.

"Well, if you are, text me, and we can. I don't know. Get lunch or something." Soften it, Eleanor. "You seem cool."

Tahani thought for only a fraction of a second before responding coldly, "I'll see you on Monday, Eleanor."

Eleanor sat perfectly still as Tahani packed her things and marched out.

Dammit.


	4. Aristotle

Friday

_ (4:15 pm) I didn’t mean to offend you _

Saturday

_(2:54 pm) Yes, I did. You’re out of my league and I thought the way to fix that was to drag you down_.

Sunday

_ (9:15 am) Okay, I get it. I forked up _

_ (9:16 am) *fork _

_ (9:16 am) God dammit **fucked i FUCKED up _

_ (9:17 am) I'm sorry. _

**(9:17 am) Why didn't you just say so?**   
  


Eleanor sighed in relief and frustration to finally get a response. Tahani was so persnickety. So picky. Such an asshole.

Liking her was the most insane thing she'd done since convincing her RA to get crossfaded with her at the end of freshman year.

Monday rolled around, and Eleanor took her slacker's seat happily, with only Jason there in the seat in front of her.

"Hey, Eleanor. You're friends with Tahani."

Eleanor wasn't sure where he'd gotten that impression after the incident last class. "Kind of?"

"Do you know if she's single?"

"Oh, I think you're barking up the wrong tree there," said Eleanor with a snort. Jason and Tahani? That was a match made in hell. "I mean, single or not, she's a lot to handle. She's got baggage for days."

Jason nodded in understanding just as Janet came in through the side door.

"Plus?" said Eleanor quietly. "I think somebody else is into you."

There was a look exchanged between Jason and Eleanor. Eleanor gestured toward Janet, pointed her eyes toward Janet, very much indicated that Janet was the person Eleanor was talking about, and Jason still responded, "Sorry, Eleanor, you're just not my type."

"That's weird," said Janet. "Don't take this the wrong way, Eleanor, but I could've sworn you batted for the other team."

She was now in two pickles: she didn't want to let Janet know they'd been talking about her, and she didn't want to let Jason know she liked Tahani. "No, I like guys," she said.

"But do you like girls?" Ooh, look at Janet, asking the right questions. Thinks she's so smart.

"Lay off Eleanor," said Tahani, who hopefully had missed the majority of the conversation. "If she does, she clearly doesn't want to tell you. If she doesn't, you're pestering her for no reason."

"Okay, that's solid logic," said Eleanor.

"Speaking of solid logic," said Chidi, who absolutely had missed the majority of the conversation but was thirsty for a good segue, "today we're talking about Aristotle."

Eleanor could almost hear Janet's scowl. Come on, you had to give the guy a chance.

"Aristotle said that to be happy, we have to be virtuous."

That was some bullshit.

"Do you, though?" whispered Tahani.

"Do I what?" Eleanor hissed back.

"What is it Janet said? Bat for the other team?"

Eleanor paused. "Why do you care?"

"I'm just curious."

"You told Jason and Janet to butt out."

"Because they're the most painfully straight people I've ever met."

"I don't know, Janet gives off this vibe like- hold up. Are you not?"

Tahani looked forward. So did Eleanor.

"The right course of action," said Chidi, "depends on the scenario. You might go back on a rule you made before if it makes sense in the moment. Sometimes you have to use your head and determine on the spot what the right thing to do is. That's prudence."

"See, I'm just being prudent," said Tahani.

"No one likes a prude, Tahani."

But Eleanor's mind was racing. Could Tahani actually be not straight? Was there any way to get clarification without being a jerk?

Stupid Tahani making her care about ethical decision-making.

Tahani honored exchanges, right? When she'd gotten something in the past, she'd given back. Eventually.

This had to work.

"I'm bi," said Eleanor under her breath.

"Sorry?"

"Don't make me say it again."

"Oh. Oh, that's what you said. Right. So am I. Yes. Well, probably. I've never dated a man, so it's hard to say. My dear friend Shawn asked me out once, but I was afraid he'd write a song about me."

"Mendez?" Eleanor asked flatly, though she knew the answer.

"That's the one," Tahani confirmed.

God, Eleanor had stiff competition.

Chidi underlined something on the board. "All of this brings us around to the word ethics. The name of the class. Must be important. Aristotle coined the word to mean the study of character."

So it was just judging people. Eleanor could do that. Usually.

"If you live a virtuous life," said Chidi, "then you will be happy. Aristotle teaches us that virtuous people actually find joy in being virtuous."

Eleanor scoffed. Brainwashed people, maybe, or self-absorbed people who thrived on the praise they got. There was no way you could do selfless things for no personal gain and then be happy about it. Like, she'd tried to tell Jason that Janet liked him and it backfired.

Or did it?

It had kind of worked out, hadn't it? Now she knew she stood a chance with Tahani as a direct result of that good thing she tried to do.

Maybe good deeds were the answer sometimes.

"That's class," said Chidi. "Eleanor, Tahani, could you stay a moment?"

They waited around as everyone else filed out.

"I appreciate that you're continuing the discussion of ethics," said Chidi. "I noticed you repeating a few of the concepts I was talking about, and that's. That's great, really. But you can't continue to talk over my lecture."

"Sorry, Professor Chidi," said Tahani.

"We'll be quiet," said Eleanor.

"Good. I was worried all class about whether I should say something. If I said something, it would've disturbed class, but you were already disturbing class… anyway." Chidi looked shaken. "If you ever want to continue that discussion, and I encourage you to do so, you can either drop into my office hours or hold meetings on your own."

"There's an idea," said Tahani warmly. "Eleanor, would you like to meet up after Wednesday's class and hold a discussion? Just the two of us?"

If someone told Eleanor a week and a half ago she'd be second in line for a study group, she'd have slapped them silly. "Sounds great!"


	5. Descartes

Eleanor realized two things on the walk to ethics: one, that if she wanted to impress Tahani, she was going to have to pay attention in class, and two, that if she wanted to pay attention in class, she absolutely could not sit next to Tahani.

Sitting with Jason and Janet was out of the question. She could hear them sucking face when she walked in. Good for those two crazy kids, she guessed, but she could do without that distraction.

She found a seat in the front, next to some guy in a novelty T-shirt and khakis, with hair slicked over with what could have been hair gel, but was probably slime.

"Hey, baby," he said immediately. "That shirt's very becoming on you. Then again, if I were on you- oh, come on, let me finish."

Eleanor had stood back up. "Dude, no one's ever gonna let you finish."

"Janet's right," the asshole stage-whispered behind her back. "She's definitely a lesbian."

"Ignore Trevor," said the old man in the corner - Michael? Eleanor could hang with him. God knew no one else would. She took a seat next to him.

"He's in one of my night classes," said Michael. "Total nightmare."

"Night classes?"

"This class is technically my lunch break. Gotta keep up the hours at work."

Eleanor nodded as Michael sipped his coffee. This was exactly the kind of guy she could intentionally not talk to.

She found something funny. Sitting away from the Slacker's Seat made everything feel a little more real. The notes she took were a little better. Chidi's expressions were a little clearer. She sat a little straighter in her chair.

Descartes made sense.

Was it worth it? Absolutely not. She'd have fought Tahani for the seat that first class if she hadn't given it willingly. Wouldn't that have been a scene, she thought. Tahani could've gouged her eye out with those nails.

Those nails… that were gone today, as Eleanor finally noticed when the two met up after class.

"They were press-on," admitted Tahani.

"And you wanted me to know that," said Eleanor, overanalyzing every interaction they'd ever had.

"I lost one," said Tahani, looking confused. "So I took them all off. Why would I want you to know that?"

"Never mind," said Eleanor. "Chidi, how long can we have this classroom?"

"There's another class in fifteen minutes."

"Your place isn't far," said Tahani, and they set off. What, was Eleanor supposed to argue against that?

"So," said Eleanor. "I really think Descartes has a point with the whole no final ends thing."

"What do you mean?"

"So he says there's no ultimate purpose, right? It just keeps going. Like a toddler that keeps asking why, you know, you're never going to be able to give them an answer that they can't just ask why again. There's always another reason behind that reason."

Tahani smiled. "You think so?"

"I mean, yeah." This was totally worth paying attention for. "If you draw the line somewhere, you have to accept something as absolute truth without any good reason, and that's nonsense."

"I'll test that," said Tahani. "Ask me a question, and see if you can keep asking why. We'll see if we hit an absolute truth."

"Okay." This was going to be easy. "What are you doing right now?"

"Walking home with you."

Eleanor nodded. "Okay, why?"

"Because I wanted to study with you."

"Why?"

"Because Professor Chidi said we couldn't talk in class."

"Why?"

"Well, because we talked in class. Obviously."

"Why?"

"Because we sat next to each other."

"Why?"

"Because you took my seat and I only moved one over."

Here we were getting to the heart of it. "Why?"

"Because you faked a knee injury to talk to me," said Tahani as if she were the center of the goddamned universe, "and that's adorable."

Eleanor shook her head and laughed. "You are so arrogant."

"Knee injuries are bad, Eleanor. You'd be on crutches, or at least a cane. My friend David Beckham-"

Eleanor interrupted. "You don't have to do that."

"What?"

"The celebrity thing. I don't care who you know. That's not why I like you."

Tahani smiled. "You like me?"

"I thought you already worked that out," said Eleanor.

"No, I did, but it's different to hear it. It's different to say it. You like me. That's wonderful."

Eleanor glared. "You have anything you want to say to me?"

Tahani knocked on the door. "This is twice I've walked you home. I think it's implied."

No one answered. There was no one shouting or fighting on the other side. Eleanor stuck her key in the door. "Yeah, well, I think you'd better say it, or-" She wedged herself in the slightly open door, blocking Tahani's entrance. "You can't come in."

Tahani huffed. "You're impossible. I like you all the more for it."

Eleanor opened and shut the door to an empty dorm room. "You know, I think I've got enough of a handle on Descartes."

"As have I," said Tahani. "What would you rather do?"

Eleanor took Tahani by the hand and walked her toward her corner of the room. "I've got some ideas."


End file.
